Walking Tokyo gives an intimate glimpse into the daily lives of Tokyoites. Read our notes from the 5.5 mile (~2 hour) walk Kichijōji Station to Nakano Station. Join us as we walk Tokyo!

TL;DRWe’re walking Tokyo (this time from Kichijoji Station to Nakano Station) to practice for next year’s Yamathon! Is there anywhere in Tokyo that you’re curious about? Let us know below and maybe we’ll walk it or message us to come join us!

Kichijoji Station to Nakano Station ?! Why?!@

Check out our first post to learn more about why we love to walk the cities we live in. We originally went out to Kichijoji to check out the Round 1 (because I love games) and decided to just walk home. I know, don’t ask – we make these kinds of decisions to just walk home a lot. 😀

Kichijōji Station to Nakano Station

Our Route

Route

Statistics

Statistics

~2 hours

A little more than 5.5 miles

This was an extremely flat route with everything to see centered around the stations. Every station has its own charm!

We followed the train line so we passed the following stations: Kichijōji, Nishi-Ogikubo, Ogikubo, Asagaya, and Kōenji

Neighborhood Notes

Kichijoji has a really large Round 1 where we played メダルゲーム (medal games, my personal fav). Not as good as the one in Odaiba, but I think it’s great for an area outside of central.

Ogikubo is famous not only because it’s a ‘ramen battleground’, but is known specifically for Ogikubo Ramen – a Tokyo style ramen prepared from fish. I have a few places that I wanted to try on my Foursquare list, but we didn’t get to try any – specifically Harukiya. If you get out there and try some, let us know which ones!

Even though the stations have its own charm, the paths between the stations are what I would describe as pretty boring (at night). It might be different during the day, but I say this because if you’ve ever walked in a Japanese residential neighborhood away from a station and outside of central (and even some in central), you’ll know that Japanese neighborhoods are eerily quiet – I often wonder if people actually live in them. The ambiance is akin to a horror flick – right before the monster appears and devours you – so you generally walk quickly and quietly as to not disturb the peace.

Originally home to Tokyo’s punk scene in the 70’s, Kōenji is famous for its vintage clothing shops. You’ll find a ton of them in the PAL shopping street and around the station.

Also, while you’re in Koenji, if you like curry – make sure to check out the 100 Hour Curry B&R which won the Kanda Curry Grand Prix in 2016. It’s ticket machine so you’ll need very minimal Japanese to order and try some.

Walking Tokyo gives an intimate glimpse into the daily lives of Tokyoites. Read our notes from the 5 mile (~2 hour) walk across Odaiba and Rainbow Bridge. Join us as we walk Tokyo!

TL;DRWe’re walking Tokyo (this time over Rainbow Bridge) to practice for next year’s Yamathon! Let us know in the comments if there’s anywhere in Tokyo that you’re curious about or if you’d like to join us! Thanks @noellechun for coming along this time! It was awesome catching up!

Rainbow Bridge?! Why?!@

Why Rainbow Bridge you ask? Why not?! Check out our first post to learn more about why we love to walk the cities we live in. This week we’re posting our weekend adventures with our friend from Hawaii, @noellechun! She was an awesome sport as we navigated and adventured around Odaiba. We ended up in Ginza with the intent of eating a GIANT cream puff, but didn’t realize we needed to reserve that thing a week in advance. Our spirits weren’t crushed though, since we still ate a ton of amazing food at the Taste of Tokyo event – and ended the night with some Cremia🍦!

Odaiba and Rainbow Bridge

Our Route

Statistics

Odaiba to Rainbow Bridge – 4.92 miles

~2.5 hours

Odaiba is pretty flat, but the bridge had a steady uphill on one side (as all bridges do 😂)

If you’re afraid of heights – this is NOT the walk for you.

Sunset views on both Odaiba Beach and the bridge are amazing.

On Rainbow Bridge, you pick North or Southside to walk on. North gives nice views of Tokyo’s skyline and a glimpse of the setting sun until you hit the turn in the bridge. The South path has nicer views after that.

Coming from Odaiba, there are two places to choose which side you want to walk on: once at the very beginning and again (you can switch sides) before the bridge turns.

Not much to see on the walk from Ariake Station area to Odaiba Kaihinkoen Station area, so hopping on the Yurikamome line is an option.

Neighborhood Notes

There’s always something going on in Odaiba on the weekends and this Sunday was no exception! There were three outdoor festivals and a tourism expo:

Fiesta Mexicana – Mexican food, drinks and performances on the West Side of Odaiba near Daiba Station.

Mercari Flea Market – Similar to the Swap Meet at Aloha Staidum, there were tons of people selling their stuff on the cheap! This was in the West Promenade area near Diver City.

Tokyo Ajiwai Festival (Taste of Tokyo) – Food vendors from all over Japan as well as vendors representing various countries and ethnicities in the world! On the Southeast side of Odaiba, near the Ariake and Kokusai-tenjijo Stations (right in front of Tokyo Big Sight)

In Tokyo Big Sight, there was Tourism Expo Japan (we didn’t get a chance to check this one out)

To get to Rainbow Bridge from Odaiba, walk through Odaiba beach which was reminiscent of Ala Moana Beach at sunset – complete with standup paddle boarders (okay, there was one guy) and hula dancers. Lots of folks relaxing and just hanging out.

From the North side of the bridge, you can see both Tokyo Tower and (way off in the distance) Tokyo Skytree.

The pedestrian path on Rainbow Bridge is suspended below the cars, so you can’t see above you except in the lookout areas.

We walked through Shibaura Island and it was quite fancy looking. A quieter area, but the buildings were noticeably nicer than the area directly off the bridge.

Walking Tokyo gives an intimate glimpse into the daily lives of Tokyoites. Read our notes from the 10 mile (~5 hour) walk ﻿between Hatchōbori station and Nakano station. Join us as we walk Tokyo!

TL;DRWe’re walking Tokyo to practice for next year’s Yamathon! Is there anywhere in Tokyo that you’re curious about? Let us know below and maybe we’ll walk it or message us to come join us!

Walking Tokyo?! Why?!@

One of my favorite things to do when I travel abroad is to catch public transportation because it gives you an intimate glimpse into the daily life of someone local to the area. Having lived in a few large cities, one of the first things Sara and I do is figure out how to walk it. Similar to catching public transportation, walking a city is immersive and gives you insight into the socioeconomic structures as well as the daily lives of those who live in a particular area.

Protip: Walking a city also allows you to scope out future places to live!

When we lived in NYC, we walked almost all of lower Manhattan (below 60th – it’s also why we know it so well!) and so when we moved to Tokyo, we figured we’d do the same – but this time, we’ll try to document our strolls so that they’ll hopefully give you some ideas for your own adventures.

In addition to the route and how long it took, we’ll have snippets about places we detour to along with neighborhood notes. To kick this series off, this past weekend, we walked Hatchōbori Station (a little East of Ginza) to Nakano Station.

Hatchōbori Station to Nakano Station

Our Route

Route

Statistics

Statistics

~5 hours

A little less than 10 miles

A little uphill north of the palace, but overall, a pretty easy stroll – this looks a lot scarier of a walk than it really is.

We stopped at Lawson Station in Ichigaya to get a drink and some lemon cheese pancakes (for fuel, of course!).

Neighborhood Notes

Ginza has a lot of shopping areas. Duh, it’s obviously famous for them – but walking the area gives a very different perspective of just how many shops there are here. Narrator: there’s a lot of them!

Ichigaya is noticeably fancier than a lot of Tokyo neighborhoods – not quite Roppongi Hills fancy, but still very, very nice. The building facades and overall atmosphere oozes upscale.

Shin-Ōkubo is (in)famous for its Koreatown and it shows – everything around the station is cheese this and cheese that. From cheese dakkarubi to cheese corndogs – you’re going to encounter a ton of younger folk here – even younger than Kichijoji. If you know Sara, you’d also know she’s already been here to eat Korean food, but we’re definitely coming back to try all these チーズ (cheese) dishes.